Man gets 38 years for taking shot at cop

EVERETT — An Everett man who shot at a Marysville cop after a high-speed chase was sentenced Friday to more time behind bars than he has been alive.

Kevin Diltz tried to convince Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese that a 25-year sentence was enough to punish him for a crime spree in north Everett in April 2013.

“Everything I love is going to be dead and gone, you know,” Diltz said.

His stepfather also asked the judge to show Diltz mercy, saying that his actions were those of a drug addict intent on committing “suicide by cop.”

Krese sentenced Diltz to 38 years in prison. She pointed to his lengthy criminal history, including the 11 felony convictions he earned before last year’s incident. Diltz is 31.

“Your fairly young life has been a constant commission of criminal offenses,” Krese said.

The judge, who presided over the trial, said she wasn’t convinced that Diltz was trying to commit suicide. The evidence supports the prosecutor’s theory that Diltz was trying to escape when he fired multiple rounds at the police officer, Krese said.

Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Cindy Larsen asked the judge to sentence Diltz to nearly 45 years in prison. Diltz glorified his behavior and was recorded during jailhouse phone calls saying he wished he had shot multiple police officers, Larsen said.

The jury found the crime particularly egregious because Diltz assaulted a police officer who at the time was performing his official duties. He also endangered others when he tried to outrun police in a stolen truck, jurors found.

He left behind a string of victims, Larsen said. Numerous people “were frightened by the defendant’s reckless driving and by the gunfire that erupted in a quiet residential neighborhood in the middle of the day and subsequent police response to that neighborhood,” Larsen wrote the judge.

The incident started when the officer pulled Diltz over on the I-5 on-ramp in Marysville. The pickup truck didn’t have any license plates and was seen in a known drug location. Diltz sped off and drove into north Everett. The pickup truck crashed into parked cars and Diltz bailed out. Investigators later determined that the Ford truck was stolen a day earlier.

The Marysville officer chased after Diltz, who began firing. Three bullets struck the ground just 20 feet from the officer, according to court papers.

Police officers swarmed the area as Diltz ran through north Everett yards, shedding clothing. After a 10-minute chase, police caught up with him.

Police recovered the loaded gun about a month later buried just inches under the ground in a neighbor’s yard.